And now for something a little different ...

[LBReefer]

Updated FTS:

Everything is in place short of restocking the chaeto and siphoning out the detritus.

The maxspect gyres seem to be all but dead. I've only hooked up one and it is making an an annoying sound. I'm going to try and adjust the settings to see if it goes away.

 

[Scotty81]

Great write up, really enjoyed reading

 

[LBReefer]

Great write up, really enjoyed reading

Much appreciated.

 

[LBReefer]

Updated FTS with whites on:

and without:

 

[LBReefer]

I was super excited to see this guy pop up today:

 

[LBReefer]

I took out the big camera to try and get some updated shots.

This polyps have been blooming nicely on this guy, but I have not seen a ton of growth.

I couldn't quite capture the color on these guys, but they are growing likes weeds.

The polyp extension on this coral has come along nicely. Similar to the others, I have not seen a ton of growth. You can also see the purple stylo on the side and the RBA in the backround.

This guy has been growing a bit and the color has developed beautifully. I think its called an Oregon Tort.

This hammer has rebounded wonderfully. I thought it was a goner a few months ago.

This guy snapped in half, but both sides seems to be growing well. The polyp extension and color are both solid.

I struggled to get a more in focus photo of this mushroom. It's split once, I am hoping for some continued growth.

 

[LBReefer]

A couple fish shots:

This guy has made the transition well, but I am worried that the lack of sand is leading to these scale abrasions.

I was super worried that the leopard wrasse would suffer during all of the tank transitions. I understand that they can be very sensitive to water quality conditions.

The chromis continue to fare well and hog all the photo time.

 

[LBReefer]

I am worried that this guy may be a goner. I had some alk swings during the transition. Fingers crossed.

 

[LBReefer]

Getting the camera out inspired me to pick up a few more frags.

The very persuasive owner of @LAXAquariums talked me into a three pack:

 

[LBReefer]

Updated FTS:

and Hippo shot:

 

[LBReefer]

I picked up a Maxima Clam during one of LAX Aquarium's live sale post sale.

On the way home I stopped by another store that I've never been to before. It looked like COVID-19 had done a lot of damage to the place. I bought a chalice (I think) that they had on consignment. It's definitely seen better days. I am hoping that some TLC in QT will allow it to recover.

Here's a crappy cell phone photo to capture this time and place:

 

[LBReefer]

I think thr COVID-quarantine might be getting to me.

I decided to take another stab at plumbing a bonus tank into my main system.

I set up a peninsula in front of my tank to see if I could deal with the additional footprint:

 

[LBReefer]

Less than 48 hours later, I had pulled out some old, well rinsed sand, a HOB filter, powerhead, and heater.

 

[LBReefer]

I decided this was going to be a softie tank with zoas, kenya trees, leathers and nems.

After fruitless searching Craigslist, I broke down and bought a kessil a360x. I've been using them on my office tank and really enjoy the simplicity, small form, and reliability.

I've also learned my lesson on buying crappy equipment with the idea of upgrading down the road.

 

[LBReefer]

I'm holding off on the big plumbing job to loop this tank into the main. That's at least a full day's job and I need to save up some more "reefing points."

Here's a prototype shop with the new light and a couple feeder corals that I'm willing to put at risk:

 

[LBReefer]

And a FTS of thr main:

 

[LBReefer]

Boredom is doing real damage to my pocketbook.

The desire to plumb these two systems together reached a culmination point this week:

 

[LBReefer]

I had the eshopps eclipse overflow laying around from my early attempt at creating an external refugium. I also had ordered some orange 1" pvc pipes and tubing through home depot for another far off project that never got wet.

I needed a series of fittings, return flow locline, fresh pvc cement. This turned into a $250 trip to #LAXAquarium:

I think I watched one two many of the aquascape videos on #BRSTV. I decided if this system was going to be centered in my room, it might as well invest in some specialty rock. LAX had what seemed like a good deal on the pre-dyed life rock, although I failed to calculate the added cost of it being wet.

 

[LBReefer]

I had drilled one aquarium previously, so I was not absolutely terrified, but thr thought that this whole project could get derailed by one inadvertent slip of the wrist was never far from my mind.

Of course it was 8pm and dark by the time I emptied out the tank, scraped out the remaining sand and got the drill out.

My wife showd up midstream to see if our dogs had cornered a wolverine, a bandsaw, and the world's worst accordion player. Needless to say, she wasn't a fan of the drilling noise.

Once I assured her that the noise was temporary and promised to make homemade chocolate chip cookies for the neighbors, I got back to work.

20 minutes, one flooded lawn, and some minor irritation later, I had drilled my second aquarium:

I will give Eshopps credit for one thing: their drill bits are rock solid. Now I have something else to say about their instructions and video tutorials ...

 

[LBReefer]

These instructions are terrible, poorly executed, and flat out wrong. I wish there was someway to report this to #Eshopps.

Nonetheless, I am a bureaucrat by nature and felt the need to follow the manufacturer's instructions. Here's the result:

Yes, you can see the majority of the water coming out down through outflow fitting. Unfortunately you can see a drop of water coming out every 3-4 seconds from around the fittings. Well, you could, except for the fact that my fuming led to an early termination of the video recording. Another version awkwardly captures the audio of a #BRSTV video that I was watching to figure out my pluming mistakes.

Thankfully I was able to search #Reef2Reef and found that I was not the only one with this problem. Big thanks to Crabs McJones for solving a problem two years into the future.